DONKIN, N.S. — The company that owns the Donkin Mine is appealing sanctions for violating conditions of the temporary foreign worker program.

Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson Josh Bueckert said in 2016, Kameron Coal Management Ltd. was selected for a random inspection for compliance under the conditions of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Bueckert said preliminary findings of non-compliance on the conditions of wages, working conditions and Labour Market Impact Assessment accuracy were found which would have resulted in Kameron receiving an administrative penalty of $230,000 and a 10-year ban from the TFW and International Mobility Program.

Following an assessment of additional information from Kameron, the sanctions were amended to a penalty of $54,000 and one-year ban of the programs, he added. As well, Kameron’s name was posted on their non-compliant employers list on their website.

According to Federal Court documents, grounds Kameron was found to be non-compliant on included payments of wages to TFW that were 60-120 per cent higher than specified and overtime rates 46-60 per cent higher as well as benefits and bonuses.

Donkin Mine had appealed for removal of the judgement from the website citing reasons including harm to their reputation. In a Federal Court decision July 10, the appeal was denied.

Kameron has also made application for leave and judicial review of the non-compliance order.

Shannon Campbell, vice president of Donkin Mine, said they cannot comment due to the matter under appeal in court.

Bobby Burchell, retired Canadian international auditor/teller with the United Mine Workers of America, said they knew all along what Donkin Mine was doing as far as bringing in foreign workers but didn’t know the exact dollars being paid.

“They should never have had all those workers in here anyway when there are all kinds of Canadian workers here qualified to do the job.”

Burchell said the government should be taken to task here for not investigating it more from the get-go before giving them approvals.

Last November, Burchell said Donkin Mine laid off 39 qualified mechanics, electricians and other workers who were Cape Bretoners.

“They said they couldn’t find people in Canada to do the jobs,” he said.

“For 100 years we’ve been doing these jobs in Nova Scotia. We had an underground coal mine in Grande Cache that employed over 500 people that shut down right at the same time Donkin was opening their mine. They could have brought in all kinds of qualified workers in from that mine.”

Burchell said they needed these 39 guys to get the mine up and running and young guys trained. However, the experienced coal miners knew the dangers, what was going on and a decision was made to get rid of them before they started complaining, he added.

Although Donkin Mine later reported most were hired back, Burchell said that’s not true.